The DePauw Language Department Assistant (LDA) program, which brings international student ambassadors to DePauw, has been put on hold for the next academic year.
In light of recent budget cuts, the Modern Languages department has decided to hold funding for the Language Department Assistant Program. Language Department Assistants are international students that act as teaching assistants and students at DePauw.
The LDA program has brought in student assistants such as Eduardo Montes Romero. Eduardo, the current Spanish LDA, was selected and granted a scholarship by DePauw University. Students in the LDA program are individually chosen for this program, rather than needing to apply for the position.
There are four Language Department Assistants at DePauw for French, German, Italian, and Spanish. “In the current spring term, there are, by SOC count, 350 students who are enrolled in courses offered by these four language programs,” said Professor Alejandro Puga, chair of the Modern Languages Department.
According to Puga, “Suspending the budget and calling for a review of the program was the outcome of a conversation between Dean Myrna Hernandez… and VPAA Anne Harris.” Professors and students such as Puga and Eduardo were not involved in the decision.
Professor Cheira Lewis, a French professor in the Modern Languages department, has stated that “we must keep our doors open to the world and enable language immersion and cultural opportunities on campus.”
Eduardo said that the “LDA program is the closest some students will get to Spain.”
The LDA program is intended to provide cross-cultural relationships among students at DePauw. “We simply cannot underestimate the value of foreign language instruction,” Lewis said.
It is possible that the LDA program will be altered and reimplemented in the future. “I believe that a review of the program has the potential to render a model that is not as vulnerable to budget pressures as it has been this year,” Puga said.